Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
Everything is negotiable. One of the problems, though, is that agents want as much upfront as possible. They don't know what will happen tomorrow. They know a series can get dropped regardless. Books can be orphaned. Marketing support, even when in the contract, rarely appears.
PERSONALLY, I'd probably opt for higher royalties. But in a lot of cases, the author doesn't do the negotiating. Certain agents already have clauses that they have "negotiated" ahead of time--seriously. They already expect to get 1. 2. and 3. The publisher knows the agent and they have a template for that agent. So while all of it is up for grabs, some of it depends on the agent.
And before a book is published no one knows how well it will sell. So it's a matter of who takes on the most risk--the publisher or the author.
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If Publishers are cutting authors because they are not hitting targets, as an author I think I would prefer the option of higher royalties and less of anadvance so that the next book is published as opposed to no advance and no royalties. I would think that agents would prefer that they make something over a period of time then make nothing by insisting on a higher advance payment.